ENTABLATURE (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. in, and tabula, a tablet)  , the architectural term for the superstructure carried by the columns in the classic orders (q.v.) . It usually consists of three members, the architrave (the supporting member carried from column to column, pier or wall) ; the frieze (the decorative member) ; andthe cornice (the projecting and protective member) . Sometimes the frieze is omitted, as in the entablature of the portico of the caryatides of the Erechtheum . There is every reason to believe that the frieze did not exist in the archaic temple of Diana at Ephesus; and it is not found in the Lycian tombs, which are reproductions in the rock of timber structures based on early Ionian work .